How can I bypass AT&T's Arris BGW210-700 gateway and use my own router?

Question

I was excited to get gigabit fiber internet service from AT&T, but the provided Arris BGW210-700 gateway has been dropping wifi connections to our devices (Win 10 PC, Macbook Air, iPhones, Xbox 360) very frequently.

(This is especially annoying when playing Xbox 360 against someone else on Xbox Live because then the game crashes completely and irrecoverably.)

I thought maybe my Arris BGW210-700 was faulty, so I asked AT&T to replace it, but the replacement (of the same model) has had the same frequent dropped connection problems.

So I started searching online, and now I've seen countless posts from other people (over many years) saying that they have this same problem with the Arris BGW210-700 and that AT&T has been unhelpful.

How can I use a different gigabit wifi router for my home network?

Solution

I was able to get a Netgear R6300 wifi router working "behind" the Arris BGW210-700 (but I was unable to unplug the Arris BGW210-700 entirely).

I was disappointed to learn from countless articles online that AT&T's fiber internet connection (the white box on my wall that comes in from the street) will only successfully connect to an Arris BGW210-700 gateway (due to their "security handshake").

AT&T could have designed their systems more flexibly but perhaps prefers this policy to simplify "support" (and if that was their intent, it's ironic).

These were the steps I took to disable the wifi of the Arris BGW210-700, connect via ethernet cable a Netgear R6300 to the Arris BGW210-700, and then successfully use the Netgear R6300 for my home network:

1. The Arris BGW210-700 power cord is plugged directly into a wall outlet rather than a surge protector because that’s what an AT&T article recommended.
2. An ethernet cable connects the white fiber box on the wall to the ONT port of the Arris BGW210-700.
3. I disabled my computer’s wifi.
4. I temporarily connected an ethernet cable from my PC to a LAN port of the Arris BGW210-700.
5. At its config page https://192.168.1.254:
   1. Home Network > Wi-Fi > Advanced Options
      1. I turned “Wi-Fi Operation” to “Off” for both “2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Radio Configuration” and “5 GHz Wi-Fi Radio Configuration”
   2. Firewall > Packet Filter > "Disable Packet Filters"
   3. Firewall > IP Passthrough
      1. Allocation Mode: Passthrough
      2. Passthrough Mode: DHCPS-fixed
      3. Passthrough Fixed MAC Address (Manual Entry):
      4. Passthrough DHCP Lease: 99 days
   4. Click on the "Device" tab and then “Restart Device”
6. I temporarily connected an ethernet cable from my PC to a LAN port of the Netgear R6300.
7. At its config page (probably https://192.168.1.1/) I don’t think I actually needed to do these steps, but you could confirm:
   1. Advanced > Setup > Wireless Setup
      1. I set up my desired wifi network names and passwords.
   2. Advanced > Setup > Internet Setup
      1. Internet IP Address: Get Dynamically from ISP
      2. Domain Name Server (DNS) Address: Get Dynamically from ISP
      3. Router MAC Address: Use Default Address
   3. Advanced > Setup > LAN Setup
      1. LAN TCP/IP Setup
         1. IP Address: 10.0.0.1
         2. IP Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
         3. RIP Direction: Both
         4. RIP Version: Disabled
      2. Use Router as DHCP Server: enabled (with IP range: 10.0.0.2-10.0.0.254)
   4. Advanced > Advanced Setup > Wireless Settings
      1. Use other operation mode: disabled (not AP Mode or Bridge Mode)
   5. Advanced > Advanced Setup > UPnP
      1. Turn UPnP On
      2. Advertisement Period (in minutes) 30
      3. Advertisement Time to Live (in hops) 4
      4. UPnP Portmap Table
      5. Active Protocol Int. Port Ext. Port IP Address
      6. YES UDP 3074 3074 10.0.0.6
8. I unplugged the ethernet cable from my computer.
9. I connected an ethernet cable from a LAN port of the Arris BGW210-700 to the WAN port of the Netgear R6300.
10. Windows > Start menu > Check Network Status > Network troubleshooter
    1. I ran this at various times when I was having trouble connecting one device to another, and it automatically fixed problems multiple times.
11. I also think restarting each device and being patient to wait for connections may have been key at various stages.
12. Note that now that the Netgear R6300’s WAN port is connected to the Arris BGW210-700, http://10.0.0.1/start.htm is its new config page (instead of https://192.168.1.1/).
13. Now Xbox 360 successfully plays games connected to Xbox Live via wifi guest network of Netgear R6300.

I don’t know how I would have accomplished this without (at least temporary possession of) a computer that had an actual ethernet port.

_{P.S. https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubiquiti/comments/b1x5l6/how_to_properly_configure_the_arris_bgw210_for/ and https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/How-do-I-setup-bridge-mode-in-the-ARRIS-BGW210-700/td-p/1875994 were probably the most helpful articles that got me on the right track. Hopefully my article here is clearer.}

Comments

[Tetsujin]

I'm breathless after reading that ;) idk that router, but on mine I just press the button on the web admin interface labelled "modem mode" then build my own router behind it, with wifi APs to my heart's content. Seems like they made life intentionally difficult for you. [+1s all round for running the whole marathon;)

[Ryan]

@Tetsujin Yeah it took me 10+ hours to figure out. I really hope my connections are more stable now.

[Tetsujin]

I actually keep an old - circa 2004 - laptop around configged to access the router if ever it must be reset or my ISP want to change/update it. It's the only task it ever does, but it's the only machine in the building set up to specifically connect to the router in 'smart' mode, just to drop it back to 'dumb' mode. It saves re-configging any 'real' machine twice; to do the task, then back to normal.

[Frank Thomas]

I had to keep an old XP VM around forever to work with my old Cisco 851. the SDM software for which I was licensed only ran on java 4 (1.4) with IE6. I was a great router and served me well for many more years than the netgears and linksyss I had been using (that burned out after a year or two), but eventually I had to let it go. When I replaced it, I made sure the new one could be managed natively, requiring only web/ssh for full access to features.

[Tetsujin]

@FrankThomas - fortunately for me, the ISP router has a simple web interface. The issue is just that all the DHCP etc needs for the computers to re-map. It's just a bit of a hassle to do it from one of the regular machines, as to physically repatch the router I need to be 3 floors away from the main house/office. So, I take the old laptop, patch it in by disconnecting my 'real' router, re-map the ISP router, reboot it all & re-patch to my regular setup. Fiddly, but only takes 15 mins & doesn't upset any of the rest of the building's networking. tbh, I've only had to do it about every 5 years.